mysterious evite

How does this happen? Today, I received an eVite from "friends" who are moving to San Francisco. The only problem is that I do not know who these people are. I have wracked my brain but just do not know. Is it possible they accidentally got my email? How coincidental would that be? I looked down the list of other guests but didn't recognize any of them either. Ummmm.....mysterious.....ummmmm.....should I go to the party anyway? Who knows who I will meet!

On other news. Being the last day of the month, I had to weigh in today and was still .6 - yes .6, not 6 pounds over my limit. Not bad, considering that most of the month I was about 4 lbs over. The receptionist was nice enough to give me a pass this month but told me I better make weight next month. I certainly hope that I do.

As for the film, The Great American Christmas, I did end up on the cutting room floor. Ted and Drew did an awesome job though. The film started off rather slow but actually turned out pretty good. It is pretty inspiring as narrated by Howie Mandel and held my interest even though I wasn't in it. It will air 3 more times including 4:00 on Saturday so if you get a chance, have a look at it.

Christmas job still kicking my behind. 8 hours today, most of the time which I felt as if I was going to pass out. Nausea, vertigo and black outs were the par for today. I was just exhausted and not sure if I am quite ready for this yet.

The good news is that both Smokey and Thomas are now walking on the treadmill -woohoo!- although you can still tell that they are baffled and a little scared of the ground that moves below their feet!

What's Up

Although I am thoroughly convinced that I have lost my large following, (Thank you my 2 dear readers) I continue to blog. After all, it is really notes to ourselves anyway, isn't it? Still, there is some thrill when my blog comes up on the screen and I see a number other than 0 after comments, meaning that, yes, someone else read what I had to say and had some of their own thoughts on it.

Anyway, it has been nearly two weeks. This part-time, Christmas job that I took - for fun and to get myself used to working again - is kicking my behind. I am not having fun and I am exhausted most of the time from the work. It has seriously affected other areas of my life - walking the dogs, getting house work and yard work done, visiting with my nieces and the rest of family and friends, painting, looking for a real job that could actually pay the bills (and maybe get me that plasma, HD TV I have been drooling for), completing the accounting for my one client that actually pays me and a far better salary than the Christmas job. So, it was a bad idea to take this job but, not being a quitter, I will stick with it until Jan. 7 when I will happily say, Happy New Year and bye!

Other stuff in the two weeks. Thanksgiving. Yum Yum. Definitely my favorite holiday. I love to eat and especially Turkey, stuffing, pies and all of the rest of the good Thanksgiving stuff. This year we had fried Turkey. I pictured something like KFC but only using a Turkey. Not like that at all and much better. It was the most delicious, moist Turkey I have ever tasted! And it was great having most of the family and some friends all together. Great day.

Football. USC has definitely recovered from the slight slump it had been in that led to its one loss at Oregon. After wins over Cal and Notre Dame, it has once again reached the lofty ranks of the top two college teams (BCS bowl-wise anyway) and barring a loss to UCLA Saturday, will most likely go on to play in the National Championship Game against Ohio in January. It has been one exciting season with a number of good games by other teams and some superb playing. I am keeping my fingers crossed for Saturday that USC can beat our cross-town rival UCLA.

Golf - got on the course for only the third time in my life (maybe fourth) and played 7 holes before sundown. Nothing spectacular but did have a good four-some who were all about the same skill level leading to fun for all since no one got too frustrated waiting for anyone else.

And speaking of Christmas specials, there is one on TV tonight on USAP channel called The Great American Christmas. It is narrated by Howie Mandel and follows six American "families" through Christmas. My friends were one of the families. It was filmed last year and part of the filming was done at a Christmas party I attended. We will see whether I ended up on the cutting room floor or whether you catch a sneak peak of me in the film. I will be watching at 9:00.

Thats about all of the news that is worth reporting at the moment.

One unfortunate thing. Only 2 days left in the month and I have not made my weight-in for WW yet. I am still 3lbs. over my limit so looks like I will have to pay this month. Darn! Need to get back down to weight in December. I will keep my fingers crossed for the next 2 days but it seems that my body is in somewhat of a revolt at the moment and the scale has been stuck at the same weight for about 2 weeks now. As we all know, there are worse things in life but, still, I worked so hard to get there, don't want to back-track now.

Whoa! Wednesday already

Where does the time go?

Well, lets see. USC won Saturday. WooHoo! Raised them to #3 in the BCS rankings. This weekend is the big showdown with CAL. Anything can happen wit these old rivals.

Each day further that I get from Herceptin brings more strength and fading of the fatigue and pain I was under for so long. It is amazing to go to bed and know that I will wake up naturally 7 hours later, refreshed, and ready to get up. I hadn't experienced that in probably 20 months or so since this all began. Sleeping 9 - 14 hours and still waking up tired and barely able to move had become a way of life. I had forgotten what it was like to feel "normal". Such a nice feeling. Of course, there are still relapses, particularly when I overdo it. Last night, I slept 9 1/2 hours and have felt a bit tired and out of sorts all day today. The other wonder of being farther and farther from treatments is the way I feel after exercise - Quigong, walking, yoga, hiking, whatever. The aches and pains are becoming non-existant and my body is beginning to feel less battered. Still waiting for the results on my last blood test to see if the anemia is starting to reside or not. Kaiser seems to have lost my blood test results again - twice in a row now, don't know why - after so many months of no errors. Anyway, based on my own experience, I would say, sorry Genentech, it is not true that Herceptin has no side effects. You may not lose your hair, vomit and generally feel like dying but you had better become accustomed to muscle aches and extreme fatigue for the duration of the treatments. Your body is still being battered.

As for life, no more action on the job front yet. Did receive one rejection which is amazing in this age. Most companies don't even bother responding to you unless you call and can manage to get through in which they say, Oops, sorry, yes we decided on someone else. It was amazing actually to receive an old-fashioned (granted via e-mail rather than snail mail) rejection letter saying, your resume was great......many qualified candidates.....good luck with your job search - yada, yada, yada. Believe it or not, I was thankful for that. Closure and I could cross that job off the list.

Other than the job search, life has just been busy as once again I am trying to get caught up, let go and cleaned out. So much work just trying to maintain, much less get ahead. I seriously need a "wife" to do this or at least a husband so that I can stay at home and do some of it and not have to worry about earning a living at the same time.

At least the dogs got walked today. They really appreciated that and have been getting better and better with each walk. Smokey walks really well for me off-leash now although he doesn't always walk so well for other people on the leash. Thomas is managing to get by other dogs pretty well without going completely nuts.

Thanks for the sunshine today!

Other news

So, aside from the donut thing, I realize that I haven't written in 9 days. Is there anyone out there who cares? 1 reader, maybe 2?

What have I been doing for those 9 days? That is a good question because I really don't have much recollection of them. (stop what your thinking right now - it isn't a drug or alcohol stupor, I should be so lucky). What have I done? hmmmmm........Well, I was pretty exhausted on the 3rd, which was a Friday, since I had such a busy week. Not much got done except trying to recoup my energy which was so low I could barely move.

Saturday dawned bright and early and I toodled (is that a word?) off to blow up cardinal and gold (not red and yellow but cardinal and gold) balloons for the pre-game USC rally. Was really disappointed that there was no beer being sold since the rally took place at Paly High School but my friends Doug and Kathy came through with an ice chest and a glass of beer for me. Thanks! Next, surprise, surprise, a nice couple came and sat behind us. I stared and tried to place where I knew them from. Finally, the woman came up to me and said my name. She had recognized me. At that point, I realized that she was my old roommate's sorority sister (from undergrad days). Not to date myself but that was long ago. Over the years though, I have seen her a number of times since my roommate and I are still friends. I hadn't seen Elaine in maybe 6 years or more but we recognized each other. Much time was spent then and at halftime catching up and taking pictures. What fun! And yeah, USC won the game against our old rival, Stanford (Beat the Tree), keeping hopes of a national championship alive.

Saturday night was haircut Saturday and I was happy that, at least, I could get a beer there (since there was no beer in the stadium either). I was pretty thirsty by that time.

Needless to say, Sunday took some more recuperation although I have to say that I think I spent more time working around the house than recuperating. No time for blogging.

The next week was a blur. Off to the infusion room on Monday to get my port flushed, then on to Quigong. Home to check emails, phone mails and pursue my job search. Tuesday, I started early in the morning at Oakridge doing merchandising for Swank and then moved on to Valley Fair before heading home where the phone rang just as I walked in. It was the CFO from one of the companies I sent my resume to and an impromptu interview took place right then. Next was a visit to the twins, then painting class and ended up in San Jose at AMTSJ for a production of the King and I. Debbie Boone did well and the sets were some of the best. The king left something to be desired. Kind of small and skinny. It was very funny every time he told Anna (Debbie Boone) that her head had to be below his since she was taller than him.

Wednesday brought more Quigong followed by a long walk with the dogs and a friend of mine, lunch and then a facial/massage/waxing to prepare just in case I got called back in for an interview on Thursday.

Thursday started early (7:15) with the ATW close. My sis came to visit for a short time and I was happy to see her. Then, it was off to Stanford to do some more merchandising for Swank. Return home and finish the ATW close and then off to the ATW Board Meeting. By the time I arrived back home at 9:00, I had had a long day and was very tired. The only disappointing thing was that I did not hear back from the CFO that I had interviewed with. Even if I didn't get the job, I would like to at least hear and get closure.

By Friday, I was exhausted. Not to lose the momentum though, I got up early and went through one of the many piles in my study (yes, the letting go/cleaning up project is still ongoing with too many new piles starting every day). Noontime came before I knew it. I walked the dogs around the block and then did a few more hours of work before I finally sat down to read the paper and catch up on my TIVO recordings.

And then today. Up early again so that I could go to Valley Fair and Stanford to do my merchandising work for Swank at Macy's. Now seems like a good time for a couple of hours of newspaper reading/football watching/sudoku/rest before going to my friend's house for dinner.

Are you bored yet? Wish I had something more exciting to write but that is my life. Frankly, it is exciting enough and busy enough for me. A little more spare time would be appreciated.

Donuts, donuts

Ok. Darn you Susan. You know I can't resist those silly, little question things. The results of my donut thing were very scary. A little too close to reality I am afraid. Who writes those things anyway. Here it is:

You Are a Boston Creme Donut

You have a tough exterior. No one wants to mess with you. But on the inside, you're a total pushover and completely soft. You're a traditionalist, and you don't change easily. You're likely to eat the same doughnut every morning, and pout if it's sold out.

What Donut Are You?

SIEA Flap update

Today I saw Dr. W. my plastic surgeon. Yes, it has been 4 months since my reconstruction surgery. Hard to believe. She looked at my breast and tummy and we discussed what needed to be done next. Although the reconstructed breast looks great, there are some remaining lumpy areas that need to be smoothed out which will require another short (1 hour outpatient) surgery. We expected this from the beginning but had to wait for the settling to make sure. Because my breast area had been radiated, there was additional uncertainty as to how the whole reconstruction would settle. The answer to that was very well. My breast is more soft and supple than expected with the exception of a little area on top which seems to have absorbed most of the thickening and stiffness usually caused by radiation.

All of this is good news (though it may not sound like it) and the corrections to be made are pretty minor. Dr. W. is very busy so it looks like surgery will not be until February unless there is a cancellation and I can slide into that spot.

After that, it is just an office visit to form the nipple and tattoo the areaola (yes, another tattoo - my fifth related to the cancer). Then I will be complete. Hooray. Sometime next year - around my 2nd anniversary of survival.